PEOPLE OF TURKEY NOT GIVING UP SOLIDARITY AND RESISTANCE

TURKEY – Thousands of protesters marched to Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Saturday (29 June 2013) chanting slogans against the government and police after security forces killed 18-year-old Medeni Yıldırım during a demonstration against the construction of a new gendarmerie outpost in the Kayacik village. The protest had been planned as part of larger unrelated anti-government demonstrations that have swept through the country since the end of May, but became a voice of solidarity with the Kurds after Friday’s killing.

Gendarme killed the man and wounded 10 others when they fired on a group protesting against the construction of a gendarmerie outpost in the Kurdish-dominated region.

The incident, in the Lice district of Diyarbakır province, appeared to be the most violent in the region since a ceasefire declaration in March by jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan in a decades-old conflict between his fighters and the Turkish state, and it risks derailing the nascent peace process.

Protesters descended on Taksim Square, which has been the centre of weeks of anti-government demonstrations, but were prevented from entering the square by riot police.

Many in the crowd sat in the roads leading to the square after being denied entry. “Long live the brotherhood of the people!” people shouted in both Turkish and Kurdish.

Most of the protesters dispersed after a couple of hours, with a group of about 1,000 remaining near the square. Riot police pushed them away from the square with shields and slow moving water cannon trucks although no water was fired. Announcements were made for protesters to return to their homes.

Also in Diyarbakır hundreds of Kurds marched at the funeral of Medeni Yıldırım.

The mourners in the city of Diyarbakir warned Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan to respect the peace process. “Behave, Erdoğan, don’t push us to the mountains!” they chanted, referring to the camps of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the mountains of northern Iraq from used as bases by militants.

The incident appears to be the most violent after the PKK’s declaration of a ceasefire and the start of the withdrawal of militants from Turkish soil.

The Interior Ministry said four inspectors would investigate the incident, which it said had involved up to 250 people attacking the construction site. It also said the death resulted from warning shots fired to disperse the crowd.

The Kurdish tensions come at a time of increased vigilance and nervousness among Turkish security forces after weeks of anti-government protests in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities in which four people died and almost 8000 thousand were injured.

The protests, have emerged as the biggest public challenge to prime minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s 10-year rule. He has dismissed the protesters as pawns of Turkey’s enemies and has called supporters to back his party in municipal elections next year.